Aesthetic and Technical Problems of Renovated Residential Buildings Facade - Prevention of Defects

Abstract

Renovation of the building stock is an acknowledged issue in the building industry. Constructional and technical requirements on residential buildings have significantly changed, as well as demands on flats equipment and aesthetic quality of the building and surrounding urban space. Several years "boom" of large-scale housing renovation in Slovakia has resulted in colour, shape and material diversity of residential buildings facade. The paper presents selected aspects of residential buildings renovation, related to their facade components. An important part of the renovation design should be prevention of defects, particularly of insulation systems. Several years after buildings insulation first colonies of microorganisms form on the surface of insulated facades and results in the formation of “green skin” on building façades. It has been observed that up to 80 % of insulated buildings are affected by this greening. This microbial colonization of buildings causes aesthetic problems and can lead to degradation and spalling of the coating [1].